Thanks BaMac! I'm glad you are enjoying it. It is time consuming and I've had my share of late nights, I don't always update every game turn, but Im trying to keep everyone abreast of major things going on. The wife says I'm obsessed, I just tell her taking over the world requires time, they never understand these things. It's a great game and I'm enjoying every minute of it.

A quick note on some future Strategy. Smeulders is keeping his cards close to his chest. My lack of submarine, air, or naval forces locating any Allied shipping is becoming very frustrating and I'm thinking of changing my initial strategy somewhat. As soon as Singapore and the Philippines fall I'll undertake major operations against Sumatra, Java and the Celebes, also clearing up Borneo. Nothing new here I know.

The invasion of Sumatra and Java will be the responsibility of the 25th Army and Southern Army operating out of Singapore.

The Celebes will be the responsibility of the 14th Army assisted by Combined Fleet forces from Davao and Babeldoab.

Now this is where I am thinking of a new stratgey. I am planning invasions of 1) Midway, Johnston, and Christmas Islands, or 2) New Guinea (SP?) and the Solomons with 16th army units based in the Philippines assisted by Combined Fleet units as soon as they become available in sufficient numbers. My initial leaning is towards the Solomon's, this will entail the taking of Rabaul, Lae, Port Moresby and the entire Solomon Islands, as well as possibly Espirtu Santu. The reason is to bring the war to the Allies, I'm not going to sit back and let Smeulders just bide his time and gather strength. I'm going to make him fight for something, and if he doesn't...all the better. I think the Solomons will force him to act. Threaten his logistics to Australia and deny some key bases to him early.

KB is almost at Truk after escorting damaged warships home. I have not used KB effectively up to this point, and it is already split with Zuikaku and Hiryu in the Celebes. I plan on driving deep into Allied positions to seek battle and finally start inflicting some serious hurt on Smeulders, or at least make him fight on my terms...for something of value to him. It's time to have my elite Imperial Navy ships and fliers earn their rice ration and Geisha privileges.

Any and all suggestions are welcome. Do either of these ideas show merit, and could be attainable say by the end of April? Or even advisable for that matter? I'd like your thoughts.

Either the Central Pacific or New Guinea strategy should be doable by the end of April. Midway in the Central Pacific and Port Moresby in New Guinea are frequent targets for early reinforcement by the Allied player; it isn't too early to think about interfering with that, whichever way you decide to go, by using KB, submarines, fast SCTFs, or some combination of these. If you do it with cunning (hitting multiple targets, for instance) you might even avoid tipping Smeulders off about your true objective.

Whatever you decide to do my number one piece of advice (and remember, free advice is always worth what you paid for it) is to unite KB before venturing into enemy waters. If there is an early carrier engagement - something I think the Japanese player should always hope for - you want every scrap of advantage you can get. Carrier battles in AE are uncertain things and you don't want to just survive such a battle, you want to win it, crushingly and decisively.

Sound advice Cuttlefish all around, thanks for your ideas. I'm really enjoying your AAR vs. Q-Ball by the way. I agree on massing my Carrier units or at least make sure they are all there in however many TF's I create when I go in.

A submarine sighting of the Allies's Carrier TF S.W. of San Diego a while ago reported all carriers together. Smeulders's modus operandi so far has been very conservative, so I'm betting the farm that he'll keep his carrier forces massed. I'm going to target size 4 AF bases or size 3 that I can quickly build up, I want the double whammy of Carrier Air Units and an LBA umbrella as well, I'm bringing it all if I hit the Solomon's. To that extent support units will reach my kick-off bases of operation before the combat units do. As soon as I take a base I want LBA there the next day, barring any repairs I may need to make.

Mauled in Malaya! Bombing attacks on Allied ground forces resulted in the destruction of 12 Nell's and 1 Sally to the loss of no Allied aircraft. The escorting Oscar's and Zeros never met up with the bombers much to my annoyance, so unescorted went the brave bomber crews. Bihoro Ku K-1 will rest until replacement aircraft and crews are available. Air losses for the day were Japan 24 Allied 0!

Kuala Lumpur was captured, but as feared the retreat route was open and Allied troops were pushed closer to Singapore, the chase is on.

China:

A screen shot later. Essentially the Chinese are withdrawing rather than fight for forward bases. Chengchow may fall without a fight, once Smeulders realized the Northern and Southern pincers were in motion he's decided to withdraw. this suits me just fine, I'll take whatever I can cheaply.

The Philippines:

On Luzon, a shock attack by Japanese troops at Clark Field resulted in 2142 Japanese casualties to the Allies 1603. Most of mine were disrupted and not destroyed. Antimonan was captured by paratroopers of 3rd Yokosuka SNLF.

On Leyte, Tacloban fell pushing the Allied forces back to Baybay.

On Mindanao, Cotobato was assaulted in a Shock Attack wiping out the remaing 67 Allied troops to the loss of no Japanese.

The following screens are mostly production based with a few developing theatres thrown in. Enjoy!

My 2 cents worth (I am overcharging at that rate) is that Mushashi is a HI hog to build. If I remember correctly, accelerating the ship from the start of the game takes your total HI investment from 80000 HI to 120000 HI. Thats 40000 HI that could have been used for planes. The Mushashi is a powerful ship, but I think that plane production is a better cost benefit ratio than having the Mushashi 6 months early.

Of course it totally depends on your style of play. If you favor the surface engagements, then you can get no better class of ship period. 18inch guns are deadly. But give me Zeros and Betty's. I do accelerate the Taiyo though. i like having the extra carrier earlier as an augment to the KB or as a replacement if one is lost or damaged.

The good news: 11 recorded hits on Allied submarine SS S-37, I can only hope she is heavily damaged and out of the fight for awhile.

The bad news: DMS W-8 was lost to torpedoes from Dutch submarine SS KXVI and xAKL Akita Maru was sunk by Allied submarine SS-020.

Northwest Borneo: Imperial forces are moving West from Kuching to attack Singkaweng (SP?)

The Philippines:

Luzon: A failed Japanese Shock Attack results in 2217 Imperial casualties to Allied losses of only 799 at Clark Field. The Allies appear to be withdrawing all forces to Bataan for a final stand there. I am not sure I have enough land forces available here, so reinforcements are on the way. I need Luzon taken quickly, these troops will sprearhead operations in the Celebes and the Solomons.

A major fleet reorganization is in order soon to best utilize the offensive capabilities of my surface force. As Smeulders is conserving his forces I am putting together strike forces to search out and destroy any allied shipping I find. Once more of the Gilberts are taken I will probe Allied interior defences.

Halting Shinano doesnt save you any naval points .. You only consume Naval points if she is due within 1 year ie after 14dec 43. Hence you may as well put her on normal until this date. Hence you have a big deficit and ships will not have naval points some days and stall.

I´m on my way to start a own game as japan. Will be my first attempt. That´s why i like your AAR a lot especially since you don´t post combat reports only. Especially the production stuff and initial expansion is very interesting to me. What i would also like to know are some details for air war. For example in PI and Malaya. Planes and numbers used and losses.

Hi everyone, sorry for the long delay on updating the AAR. What with the holidays, life stuff and some virus trouble (I had to reformat my laptop) game time suffered. So barring some exam time for my patient opponent Smeulders, we should be back on track with regular updates after the weekend.

My next posts will focus more on the details of future operations and some major reorganizing of my forces. It does not take much time to start finding assets just not being used efficiently. I'll address some production problems as well and what I may do to rectify them. So while my forces continue their objectives on the Chinese mainland, Luzon, Mindanao and Malaya, I've started a massive transferring of supply/fuel to Truk in anticipation of large scale operations in the Southeast Pacific. Support units, reinforcements from the Home Islands, LBA units are all being organized and given their marching orders.

I've been setting the historical timeline as a barometer to track my progress, I'm falling behind rather quickly, and not being aggressive enough. I'm determined to address the matter. Other than the ongoing operations, the next while will be focused on logistics, production, strategy and most importantly, finding and sinking Allied fleet units.

Here are a few screenshots of the major areas of conflict as of Jan 14/42.

Here's a summary of what happened today. Japanese fleet movements are not exciting to say the least of late, but the shuttling of troops and support units to forward bases continues.

Sub Ops: A very busy day under the sea for Allied submarine forces, I was fortunate to not lose more than I did.

SS Cachalot was spotted S.E. of Toyohara and attacked by Japanese SC CHa-13, but no hits were recorded. SS Saury N.E. of Pagan launched torps against a small supply convoy, but they were wide of the mark. SS Grayling S.E. of Toyohara launched torps aganst a resource convoy scoring no hits. SS Tambor hits and sinks a Japanese xAKL Misaki Maru around Woleai. SS Seal is spotted by Japanese ASW forces S. of Kochi in the Home Islands, but no DC attack was launched.

Japanese submarines as usual spotted no Allied shipping. Japanese submarine forces are being redirected to scout and clear the seas around Ambon and Rabaul.

The Philippines:

Luzon: Japanese forces are recuperating at Clark Field in preparation for action against Bataan. The 38th Inf. Div. of the 16th army is being recalled from Hong Kong to Lingayen to reinforce the operation. Bomber units are assembling at Clark Field to start pounding the defences at Bataan. The strategy is to bombard and starve Bataan in preparation for the final assault. 200 AV worth of troops are heading to Manila to take the city and stop the flow of supplies to Bataan. Manila requires a garrison of 200 AV.

Mindanao: A small deliberate attack by Japanese 16th Army forces at Malaybalay cause 163 Allied casualties to none for Imperial forces.

China:

A poorly coordinated Shock Attack by Imperial forces at 91,37 results in Japanese losses of 241 to the Chinese 279.

North Borneo:

Japanese forces destoy the remaining 105 troops of a British unit at 68,87.

Malaya:

A Shock Attack at 49,78 just N.W. of Kuala Lumpur results in the surrender of the 8th Indian. Japan suffers 20 casualties while 2913 Allied troops enter captivity.